First Impressions – Pico VR

As we mentioned in our E3 recap, there were a variety of VR booths at the expo this year. As I looked at the variety of VR tech, I became a little worried. Right now, you can buy the Oculus for $599 and the Vive for $799. As a father of 3, that price tag is insanely high. Granted, the tech is phenominal. However, I wanted to see if there are affordable VR options that still offer immersive gaming. I think Pico VR might be that option.

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For starters, Pico VR is lightweight. It barely weighs a pound, which is an important factor with VR technology. I normally don’t wear my glasses when I play VR, but the Pico has enough room in the headset to allow for glasses if necessary. It has a Snapdragon processor, a 90Hz refresh rate with AMOLED display, and 32GB of storage with up to an additional 128G with an SD card. I like that it uses the Android 6.0 system, so you don’t need to link to a phone or computer. The system is easy to use. I tried out a couple games at their E3 booth. Cosmos Warfare is a fun space shooter. To aim, you need to look at the target and fire with the controller. The graphics are solid Android graphics. I liked that the game placed you in the cockpit of your space ship and you could see different read-outs and displays on your ship. I also played a clever music game called audio arena. You control the game using the headset. Enemy blocks moved towards you based on the beat of the music. Defeating the enemies requires you to hit special blocks that take out enemies in a specific area. I also liked using the controller with the Pico. It has a good design and is easy to use.

I like what I saw in the Pico. The price point is still being worked out, but it looks to be a lot more affordable than other models. The anticipated release date is Late 2016. For more information and pre-order information, check out their website here.